The press release announced a presentation on “Federal Historic Preservation Law and Cape Wind: Is Nantucket Sound a ‘Traditional Cultural Property’?” The talk by Dr. Thomas F. King is scheduled for Cape Cod Community College’s Tilden Arts Center Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.

While noting that King is co-author of the National Parks Service’s Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties, the release gives nothing away regarding King’s take on the issue.

For that, one can turn to the Nov. 8 letters page of The New York Times, where King writes that he disagrees with the paper’s “statement that the Wampanoag tribes’ ‘claim’ about the cultural significance of Nantucket Sound ‘seems unsupportable.’ The significance of a traditional cultural property exists in the minds of those who value it.”

Before you conclude that King thinks such a designation would halt Cape Wind, read on: “There is nothing in the National Historic Preservation Act that prohibits an agency from deciding that the public interest demands that a historic place, or someone’s view of a historic place, be sacrificed in the public interest.”

On the other hand, King notes, the tribes may have a stronger case under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, “which prohibits federal agencies from substantially burdening a person’s practice of religion unless they find a compelling government interest.”

So where does King stand? Beyond weighing his closing call for the government to “creatively resolve the Cape Wind controversy,” you’ll just have to show up at Monday’s free event and listen.

More power to the Vineyard

David McGlinchey, director of the Vineyard Energy Project, will speak to members of Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative (CIRenew) and the general public Dec. 3 at the Brewster Ladies’ Library. Vineyard Power is concentrating on localizing benefits from wind energy projects.